Hi,
My husband and I are soon to be (hopefully) first time home buyers. We are trying to decide if we need to find a new real estate agent.

I'll try to make it short. We looked at several houses with our agent, found one we really really liked and put an offer on it. It was a short sale situation, so we knew it was going to take a while to know if our offer was accepted. My husband followed up with our agent several times, just to verify that it was our offer that the seller had submitted to the bank. During this time our agent told us that the listing agent was on vacation but he was 95% sure it was our offer that was submitted to the bank.

This went on for over a month and a half, during which time we were not looking for a house as we believed we had found one. Our agent told us a couple weeks ago that our offer was not the one taken to the bank after all. He seems to be blaming this on the listing agent, saying that she has "screwed him over" before. This would have been helpful to know 2 months ago, but whatever.

So basically, I don't know if I should take the advice of friends and family and get rid of him or is this maybe not his fault? Also, how awkward will it be to switch, like will we get put on some list of bad clients? (haha)
Any input is greatly appreciated!

Short sales are a real PITA and can very easily make a buyer's agent look like a dope. I had submitted an offer on behalf of my client for a short sale, and 8 weeks later we still had no answer from the bank - even though I called the listing agent regularly to check on the progress. The kicker was about a week after we finally withdrew our offer the price of the home was lowered to $8,000 above what we had offered!!!!!!!!!

Did it make me look dumb? Well it could have except I was working with the buyers helping them find another house just in case this one didn't work out....I kept in touch with them and kept them assured that I was working on their behalf.

I would not necessarily let this sour your relationship with the buyer's agent (if you feel comfortable with him otherwise) because it really is out of his, and most likely the listing agent's control. The banks are overrun and people have been let go and there are new people/processors handling the short sales who do not know the first thing about real estate. Some short sales have been blessedly smooth for some agents but for many - depending on the bank-- it's just a nightmare.

Thanks for your response!

We are more or less OK with him, he is a little bit ADD-ish, drives like a maniac and can't seem to remember we are only looking for minimum of 3 bedroom home (not 2 bdrms or duplexes.) I wouldn't refer anyone to him, I guess we are thinking it may be a bigger hassle to find someone new than it is to keep this guy.

I think the thing that bothers me most is the wasted time spent NOT looking at any other houses. We were prepared for difficulties in the short sale process, but not expecting to wait for nothing. He has been emailing me listings, but only since he told us our offer was not submitted.

Well, if he's otherwise a doofus, I suggest finding a new agent. There is no reason for you to put up with an idiot. It's just that short sales in and of themselves can be a hassle...but from what you said, maybe you should find an agent you can connect to.

Are you looking near Poinciana or Naples? I know if a couple of good agents you might want to check out based on where you are looking.

http://www.tutastownerealty.com - Bryant Tutas is an expert on short sales.

http://www.bonitaspringsagent.com - Chris Griffith / Naples/Bonita Springs

Clearwater - http://www.sandbarstosunsets.com/

These people are online "friends" of mine - I don't get any referral or anything, they just seem professional and very competent.

Again, thanks for your response!

We are in SW Florida, I did check out those links, the closest to us is Naples/Bonita Springs, but still a little out of our area. But I really do appreciate you taking the time to pass those on!

My husband has come up with a very good compromise to this situation. We are going to go look at one more house with this guy, one that he has emailed us that we would like to see. Then we'll see, maybe he'll redeem himself or maybe he'll suggest going to look at a duplex again..

"can't seem to remember we are only looking for minimum of 3 bedroom home (not 2 bdrms or duplexes)"

By your statement most likely you are looking at shorts because you cannot afford what a typical 3/2 is asking in your market. So in essence you are looking for a needle in the haystack in your price range. Not saying this is the case but if there were a lot of 3/2's in your price range that's what you would be getting. If your range is 200k has the agent gone up to 220k as you could negotiate the list price down to your range and open up more inventory that way.

Short sales only have a 28 percent closing rate nationally for a number of reasons.

I listed short sales for years and there are a few reasons I don't like them for buyers.

1.Title issues pop up at the last second killing the deal.

2.The junior lien holders won't agree to the senior lien holders payoff to get the juniors released so the first mortgage just forecloses and wipes them out.

3.The buyers are held hostage with time and their earnest money waiting for a deal to happen.

4.By the time you get an acceptance months later in a declining market the purchase price is no longer such a good deal and you might have appraisal issues.

5.The sellers can flake out and say they no longer want to do the deal because the bank wants a promissory note for the difference or the bank is requesting more documents and the seller says forget it.

6.The seller instead decides to do a loan modification or files for bankruptcy killing your deal.

7.The listing agent sets a really low price to get an offer so the bank will work on the short sale file. Then multiple buyers offer on what they think is a great deal and get the seller to sign the contract. The bank then comes back and denies the offer and wants a higher price leaving the buyers confused as they thought they had a deal. Sure the buyers can sue the sellers for non-performance if they did not put subject to a short sale but the sellers have no money and it will be a waste of time going after them.

Even though the sellers own the property the bank holds the note that has to be discounted for short sale acceptance. So the bank holds the ultimate power no matter what the other parties to the contract want to do.


I could go on and on with this.

Instead why not go after (REO) bank foreclosures??

The bank has already taken back the property and it's vacant,all junior lien holders are wiped out,title is clear,and you get a fast response with a quick close to your offer.

Some short sales will work but it sounds like to me you should look at REO. Just understand AS SOON as a deal hits the market you need to go see it THAT DAY and write an offer. Banks don't care you have to work,or are on vacation,etc. They just want to get the non-performing asset off their books as quick as possible for the most money the current market will bare.

Hope it helps..........

We can easily afford a typical 3/2, we are not "going after shorts," we were going after this particular home that happened to be a short sale.

The short sale process had nothing to do with the problem. Our offer never made it past the listing agent's desk. We were told that our offer was the only one submitted to the bank and that it was sure to be approved as the bank had previously approved this short sale amount only to have the buyer back out after finding a different house.

This was the story we were told repeatedly by our agent. That was the problem, he was either being mislead by the listing agent or he just simply didn't follow up at all.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I did research short sales before ever stepping foot in a house. In our area it is difficult to find homes for sale, price range aside, that are not short sales or foreclosures.

For the reasons I mentioned above you would have a much smoother time going after foreclosures. Try that out and see what happens.

Good luck.

The buyer's agent is responsible for getting the buy/sell to the listing agent. It is then the LISTING AGENT'S duty to get the offer to the bank. Other than call the listing agent (or her broker) there is not much more the buyers agent can do. Of course, I have only done one short sale so your results may vary!

As a buyers agent it is my job to present the offer and communicate with the selling agent. I can only report to you with the info I recieve from the listing agent. So if your offer was not presented, I only report the info I recieve. As Perky, I have had Listing Agents say things that were false and make me look like a fool. I would not hold that against your agent.

But if you are just not comfortable with your agent due to the quaulity of properties he is showing, being dis-organized, etc, find an agent you are comfortable with. Sometimes an agent and a client relationship doesw not work due to personality conflicts; there is nothing with that. It sounds like you are giving the agent every chance to redeem himself.

Good luck on your search.

We decided to go look at a house he had emailed us about, that house is no longer available. So last night we made arrangements with him to go see a different home this evening around 6:30.

This afternoon he contacted my husband and told him we can't see that home until next week, but in the meantime my husband and I should continue to look and let him know if we find anything we want to see.

He just doesn't seem that interested in finding us or helping us find a home. I think we've been pretty patient and cooperative. I feel like we are wasting time, so whether it is fair to him or not, we are going to look for someone else to help us find a house.

It sounds like you have been patient. I wish you luck in finding a new buyers agent. I wish you were looking in Ohio, I'd take care of your needs.

Good luck.

One point I would like to make, here in PA, as a buyers agent, we have the right to request that we present the offer to the sellers.

I am not sure if this applies to bank owned or not, but I wonder if it would be, umm, politically correct, in a case of short sales or REO's to request the information of the contact person from the bank that is handling that particular foreclosure/short sale so we as buyers agents can make sure the offer was mailed/faxed/emailed in a timely fashion and have a way to follow up.

I think due to the fact of how difficult these can sometimes be, that may be a great approach in states that allow it.

I could be off base, this is more a question than a suggestion.

WHY? Why can't you see it till next week? I don't blame you, I would probably look for someone else as well.

Dave that will never happen for a number of reasons.

1.In REO the asset manager is handling 100's of files at a time. They don't even give out e-mail addresses to the listing agents most of the time. They DO NOT talk to buyers agents UNLESS you are doing a short sale and the seller does not have representation.

2.In REO you will never get a contact at the bank. The listing broker is not going to give up a contact feeding them reo listings so you can get your foot in the door and take business from them.There are other ways to find this out.

3.In my area our mls states when inputting listings if the buyers broker/agent can present offers directly to the seller YES/NO.In most cases everyone selects no. REO and short sales are not like typical transactions and you will win some and lose some. For your buyers you just have to explain what to expect and the risk they are taking.

We went with our new agent today to see 6 houses. Wow... Quite a different experience! Now I'm even more convinced that it was time to move on. She was very organized and picked up immediately on the type of house we were looking for.
We put an offer on the 5th house we saw, so we will see what happens. It is not a short sale or foreclosure.

The reason we weren't able to go see it was "the owners are sickly." So, there again, I can't necessarily blame him for that, but knowing we are ready to find a house, I think he could've set up something else to show us. He also could try to find that stuff out before setting up a time with us to see it.
Oh well, I think he was probably as frustrated by us as we were by him. I do feel a little bad though, he was a nice enough guy, just scattered.

Its nice that you feel bad, but you need to be comfortable and have have confidence in your agent. The first agent clearly could not provide that. Good luck with the offer. Keep us updated.

Anyrae you could always send a little token gift such as a restaurant gift card to ease your mind.

Short sale can be a mess if your offer did not go to the bank it was probly becouse a higher one came in and the listing agent was just fishing for offers over that month and did not tell your agent this is tipical for short sales. I would stay with your agent.

Kirk Duckwall
www.edinarealtyminnesota.com [url=http://www.edinarealtyminnesota.com]www.edinarealtyminnesota.com[/url]

Anyrae,

I'm bothered by your statement that he told YOU to keep looking for houses. While it's good that you are looking and that's all fine and dandy. Is he looking for you also? He should have set up a search for you on the MLS that notifies him when a home comes on the market that fits your need. This should be e-mailed to you then. It really bothers me when agents tell the buyers to find a house. It's good that you are looking as you might find something that is different then what you told your agent about that he wouldn't have found it.

^ I always tell my buyers to keep looking also. They get the auto emails, I run other searches that don't quite meet their requirement but they would consider and send them on. So the buyer needs to be on lookout as well.

When we bought our house years ago, the Realtor helping us would have NEVER sent us this listing. It was not part of our search criteria on 3 levels. It was by chance that we stumbled upon our house and decided to buy it. Our Realtor scratched her head when we told her we found a house and went to the Open House. It would have never hit her radar.

Sometimes it depends on if you are buying for investment or buying for your own use. If it's the latter, an average agent will be good enough as long as you are comfortable with his/her style. However, if you are buying for investment and plan to sell the property in the future, it's really important to find a top rated agent that know the market and the region.

I will make it short. Short sale is real headache and I always educate my buyers what they can expect from a short sale. I prepare them that a short sale some times could last even more than 6 months or never go trough. I do not know how your agent knew that your offer was picked up, but I am not sure that even the listing agent did not know which offer would be approved from the bank or even the transaction will ever go trough.

Buyers and their earnest money being held hostage by short sales-
That is the truest statement I have read in ages. Kinda made me chuckle, unfortunately it's true.

I thought the listing agent legally has to submit ALL offers.

I do not know how it is in other states but in TX we have a special addendum that allows the buyer to run away of the transaction any time with out losing their earnest money.

I think it's important for agents to educate their buyers on Short Sales to see if making an offer on a Short Sale is really for them. In most cases it's not for 98% of buyers, for example First Time Buyers or buyers who need to move by a certain time frame.

I also talk with the seller agents to see what type of relationship they have with the banks. In some cases if the bank states they can move on this short sale quick then I would advise with an added note with a date to the offer.

That is NOT AT ALL what we have in Texas. Viktor, you might want to get with your broker and go over this. The buyer can lose their earnest money in Texas any time they fail to perform - unless you have some ungodly, completely open ended third party financing addendum or a really bad listing agent who doesn't know his sellers rights.